There's no better time to watch horror movies than Halloween. Here are some flicks that are guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. Halloween (1978) Director: John Carpenter Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis A mask-clad Michael Myers escapes from an asylum and spends the whole movie stabbing naughty teenagers to death. The low-budget shocker laid the foundation for the slasher movie genre and is still better than those that followed, like Friday the 13th, Wes Craven's Scream, and their sequels. It's a spine-tingling warm up for a Halloween party. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Writer and Producer: Tim Burton A popular animated comedy that is a cult classic and likely earned the filmmakers a stack of money from merchandise based on the film's ghoulishly humorous characters. Jack Skellington, the pumpkin king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and takes over Christmas Town in an attempt to show the world the endearing side of ghosts and ghouls. Danny Elfman's brilliant film score is lively enough to resurrect the dead. A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation (1997) Producer: Tsui Hark A melting pot of action, comedy, romance, horror and Canto-pop music which represented a big leap in Hong Kong film animation. Ning, a bookish debt collector, falls for a female spirit called Xiao Qian after he stumbles across a ghost city. The couple is determined to stay together, despite being hunted by moralistic ghostbusters and sinister spirits. If you're bored of conventional Halloween costumes, the film - which features a wide variety of traditional Chinese ghosts - may give you some fresh ideas. The Shining (1980) Director: Stanley Kubrick Starring: Jack Nicholson One of the scariest movies ever made, The Shining is almost free of technical flaws. Nicholson (left) plays a writer who spends a snowy winter with his family in an empty, haunted hotel. There are plenty of scary moments, particularly the scenes in which ghostly twin sisters suddenly appear. Nicholson delivers one of his best performances; his character's degeneration from a loving family man to a murderous maniac is chilling. Ringu (1999) Director: Hideo Nakata The terrifying flick, about a mysterious videotape that kills its viewers, revived the J-horror genre and sparked a Hollywood remake. Instead of chase sequences and gore, the film uses suspense and a spooky atmosphere to scare. The scene in which a long-haired female ghoul craws out of a television is sure to give even the bravest horror buffs a good scare.
